


Life's Best Medicine

by books_entertain_the_mind



Series: Our New Normal [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cuddles, Friday Needs A Hug, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is a good dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 14:19:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18470683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/books_entertain_the_mind/pseuds/books_entertain_the_mind
Summary: Tony has a nightmare and Rowan has the best medicine for her daddy's anxiety





	Life's Best Medicine

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's been a while! Life has been crazy and most of my writing motivation has been for my other fic, Learn To Live Again, or for a project I'm working on for my best friend. 
> 
> This was quickly written today and hasn't been looked over for mistakes, so please excuse any horribly obvious mistakes. 
> 
> This was based on a prompt given to me by dixiehellcat! Thanks for the prompt!

Tony couldn’t breathe.

_He was back in that stupid cave in the desert but this time Rogers and Barnes were there holding him down while Obadiah pulled the reactor out of his chest while Raza looked on in glee as Yensin laid at his feet, bleeding out from bullet holes covering his chest._

_The scene changed and now his was standing on the beach at Coney Island and he was taking in all the wreckage from the plane crash that Peter caused in his fight with The Vulture. Tony didn’t know what he was doing there until he saw Pepper among the wreckage. A scream erupted from his throat as he tried to run to his wife but his feet were buried in the sand, keeping him immobile where he stood._

_He called Pepper’s name again, but she didn't move. He heard a whimper to the side of him and he whipped around to see Peter and Rowan both trapped under a wing of the plane. Peter was holding a hopefully only unconscious Rowan. The teenage groaned again, and slowly opened his eyes, the pain evident in his gaze when he locked eyes with Tony._

_“Why couldn’t you stop this?” The teen wheezed. “This is all your fault, Mr. Stark.”_

_Tony shook his head, trying to run to his two kids, but the sand held tight. He yelled for Peter to hold on and for Rowan to wake up. He kept apologizing through the tears and screams, until he saw a figure walking up to him._

_Steve Rogers walked up to Tony through the plane wreck, disappointment in his eyes. “This is what happens when you don’t listen to me, Tony. None of this would have happened if you had just stopped fighting from the beginning. This is all your fault, Stark.” With a last shake of his head, the super soldier turned on his heel and walked away from the scene, leaving a trapped Tony to watch his family slowly die from injuries around him._

_He couldn’t breathe. It was all his fault. It was always his fault…_

Tony gasped and flew off the couch as he woke up from his nightmare. He landed on his side on the floor, groaning in pain. He maneuvered himself into a sitting position, still gasping for breath as the adrenaline and fear ran their course through his body. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to will away the panic, but the images of his family dead came back as clear as when he was dreaming.

He forced his eyes open, but couldn’t seem to focus on any single point. He was clutching his left arm in panic, trying to get his erratic breathing under control, but the panic had a firm hold on him.

“Daddy?”

Tony’s head snapped to the side, where Rowan was standing by the edge of the couch, clutching Specks, the same stuffed dog from that very first night Rowan came to be, with her right hand, it’s tail and a back leg dragging on the ground, while her other hand grasped the couch.

His daughter was staring at him with wide eyes, as he sat on the floor, trying to breathe. Seeing Rowan subconsciously forced Tony to take a deep breath, the first since he woke up. He gave her a small smile/grimace, and reached an arm out to her.

“What’s up, baby girl?”

Rowan slowly made her way over to her daddy. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him like he was at the moment. Her daddy was breathing quickly, face covered in sweat, and he looked terrified. She was confused and nervous, because her daddy wasn’t supposed to be afraid of anything!

Once she got within reach, Tony pulled Rowan into his lap. The little girl curled up, her head tucked under his chin, pulling Specks to her chest. Holding his daughter gave him a focus point, allowing Tony to slowly ease out of the almost-panic attack. Her weight against him grounding him to the present, letting the terrors of his mind slip away as Tony focused on comforting his daughter.

They pair was silent for several minutes, Tony breathing in the scent of Rowan’s children’s shampoo that smelled very similar to the strawberry-scented shampoo his wife liked to use. Eventually, Tony was able to get his breathing back to semi-normal, the weight of his daughter counteracting the faux-weight he felt in his chest and his lungs.

He wrapped Rowan up into a hug and gave her a squeeze, kissing her face until she started to giggle and squirm away.

“Da-daddy! St-sto-sstop!” she giggled.

Tony smiled and nuzzled into her light red hair. He knew Rowan had no idea how much she had been able to calm him down, but he was so grateful in that moment to have her as his daughter. Her giggles slowly tapered away and they sat in comfortable silence, again.

Rowan looked up at her daddy. He was watching her with a warm smile, which she gladly reciprocated. “Daddy,” she started, “Why were so scared earlier?”

Tony paused, his breath hitching for a second as those images flashed through his mind again. Refusing to freak out in front of his daughter again, he gave her another squeeze. In his silence, Rowan looked over at him again. “Daddy?”

Tony sighed. “Well baby girl, you know how sometimes when you fall asleep you have dreams?”

The three-and-a-half year-old nodded.

“Well, sometimes you have good dreams, those are the best ones. Sometimes though, you can have not so nice dreams. They can end up being really scary and you could wake up feeling really afraid, even though everything is alright.”

“But why, daddy?”

“I don’t know why, Ro. Sometimes our brains just focus on what we’re scared of instead of what we’re happy about.”

“That’s not very nice of our brains, daddy.”

Tony gave a chuckle at that. “I know, baby girl. It’s not fair at all, but sometimes it happens. Anyways, I was sleeping on the couch and had a not so nice dream. When I woke up, I was scared for a moment, but then I was okay, because you reminded me that everything was okay and there was nothing to be scared of.”

Rowan was quiet for a moment, snuggling deeper into Tony’s chest. The billionaire was wondering what was going on through his little girl’s mind.

Eventually, without saying anything, Rowan turned and moved around until she was sitting in Tony’s lap and facing him. She silently leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug that Tony immediately reciprocated.

“Everything’s okay, daddy,” she whispered into Tony’s ear. “I know that everything will always be okay when you’re here.”

Tony sat in stunned silence. His heart exploded into too many feelings for him to even try to decipher. Instead, he just closed his eyes and hugged Rowan closer to his chest.

“Always, baby girl,” he whispered back, “I’ll always make sure everything is okay for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments! 
> 
> If you have any prompts you want to see for our little Stark family, let me know! 
> 
> Have a great day!


End file.
